The Tarleton State TexAnn softball team played in the Texas Woman’s Best Western Spring Fling in Denton that started on Feb. 24 and did well in the games.

The TexAnns took on the Fort Hays State University Tigers in game one of the tournament with Samantha Swanda as the starting pitcher.

In the second inning Swanda was awarded a walk from the opposing team followed by Bailee Mauldin who hit a single. With Swanda on second and Mauldin on first, Tanner Pipkin walked up to the plate with a 0-0 score. Pipkin soon changed that when she belted a three-run home run making the score 3-0 in the TexAnns favor.

In the TexAnns’ half of the third Alex Orf was walked with no outs followed by Arianna Rodriguez who hit a  double into the outfield. With Orf on third and Rodriguez on second Katie Welborn hit a fly ball to center giving Orf enough time to tag back and score a run from third, moving Rodriguez to third. Swanda was next up. She scored Rodriguez giving Tarleton the lead 5-0.

In the bottom of the third the Tigers had a scoring opportunity with two runners in scoring position and one out but Swanda worked the hitter to a soft fly ball for an out and then struck out a Tiger looking to end the inning.

The next time the TexAnns scored was in the seventh inning when Mauldin hit a three-run boomer to give the TexAnns an 8-0 lead.

The Tigers tried to respond to the 8-run deficit in the seventh inning by leading off with 2 singles and advancing the runners on a wild pitch. With 1 out and runners on second and third Swanda forced a fly out and a grounder to end the threat.

With that out Swanda secured a complete-game shutout and a TexAnn win.

In game two of the tournament the TexAnns faced Washburn University.

The ball was handed to Randi Fentress to start off the game for the TexAnns. On the first pitch she was faced with a leadoff single but fought back to strikeout the next three batters in a row.

Tarleton came out swinging just as the game before. Welborn hit a 1 run single followed by Swanda scoring on a hit by Mauldin to make the game 2-0 in Tarleton’s favor. 

In the third, the bats came alive more than they had been previously. Rodriguez started the offense with a single and Welborn hit a homerun to score herself along with Rodriguez. Swanda came up next and followed suit by hitting another homerun.

 

With a score of 5-0 TexAnns, the offense did not stop. The TexAnns hit 3 consecutive singles. Brittany Dumas came up as a pinch hitter and scored Latta and Mauldin with a 2-run single to make the score 7-0 Tarleton.

 

Orf was given first base after she was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Fentress was on third and eventually scored on an illegal pitch that moved Orf and Eryn Freitas up a base.

Rodriguez capped off the inning with a 2-run double to left field to make the score 10-0 in the TexAnns favor.

 

In the fourth the TexAnns finished the game by scoring runs off of hits by Freitas and Orf. With Freitas and Orf on base Rodriguez came to the plate and belted a homerun to score the final runs of the night for the TexAnns.

The final score was 15-2 Tarleton.

The next day Tarleton took on the University of Texas-Permian Basin in game one of day two.

UTPB got on the board first when they worked the bases loaded with one out and then drew a walk to score the runner from third. Swanda, who started again, got out of the inning without any more harm done to the TexAnns.

Tarleton did not get their first hit until the third inning when Marcie Rodriguez worked the count in a TexAnn favor to draw a walk. Orf came up and hit a single. A. Rodriguez came up with two runners on and two outs to hit a 3-run homerun giving the TexAnns their first lead of the game at 3-1.

 UTPB came up to bat next and scored two runs tying the game at 3-3.

In the fourth Tarleton started a two-out rally when Shelby Tinklepaugh got on base by way of a bunt and stole second base. Kelsey Latta came up and was walked. With runners on first and second McKaylee Pittman hit a single to drive in Tinklepaugh to give the TexAnns the lead 4-3.

Tarleton made the score 5-3 in the fifth when Swanda hit a single to score Orf.

The Falcons came back to decrease the Tarleton lead by one in the fifth and tied the game in the sixth at 5-5.

Going into extra innings Tinklepaugh moved the runner that was on second to third and Latta came up and hit a sacrifice pop fly to score the winning run.

In game two of the second day Tarleton took on Central Missouri.

Kirby Crow started the game for the TexAnns in the first but soon gave the ball to Fentress.

Tarleton scored only one run in the fourth even though there were no outs with the bases loaded. Orf scored Brittney Sharp on a pop fly giving Tarleton a 1-0 lead.

Central Missouri got on the board when they got a single followed by two Tarleton errors.

The next few innings went scoreless.

In the tenth inning Mauldin hit a double that scored Rodriguez.

Central Missouri came back to tie the game in their side of the inning and scored a walk off single to give them the win 3-2 in the eleventh inning.

In the final game of the tournament the TexAnns took on St. Edward’s University.

The TexAnns had a chance to get on the board in the second when Mauldin got on the bases by way of a walk and Tinklepaugh hit a double but Tarleton could not capitalize on it.

 Swanda pitched and the Hilltoppers could not do anything against her.

In the first four innings the Hilltoppers only had 3 singles and a Tarleton error working for them.

In the fifth St Edward’s got on the board when they drew a bases loaded walk.

With the score 1-0 against Tarleton the Hilltoppers had a 2-run sixth, making the score 3-0.

In the seventh Tarleton got on when Mauldin hit a one out double and advanced to third on an error. Freitas ran for Mauldin and scored on a single by Vroman but that is all that the TexAnns could do.

The TexAnns fell to St Edward’s 3-1.